Italy Just Launched a Free, Nationwide Wi-Fi App

Few obstacles put a crimp in a vacation quite like spotty cell connectivity. Even in a place like Rome, the Eternal City, travelers insist on immediate gratification in the form of likes and shares on social media while they experience millennia of history. And so, to cater to the present and future, Italy's government has launched a free, nationwide Wi-Fi app.

Called Wifi Italia, the app "will allow all users, both Italian and foreign" to access a country-wide network, according to the app's iTunes store page. (The app is also available for Android devices.) In a lengthy description, the page outlines that the initiative was launched by the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Activities, and the Agency for the Promotion Digital Italy, beginning in summer 2017 and expected to grow in time. One login allows users to access Wi-Fi in Italian or English around the country, when available, and so far, the network has been launched in Bari, Emilia Romagna, Milan, Rome, Tuscany, and Trento, according to The Local. The current blueprint anticipates people connecting to 28,000 access points already installed around the country this year, according to La Repubblica, with plans to further develop in public and private spaces beginning in 2018.

"Wi-Fi can be a great way to help promote widespread tourism, signaling overcrowded sites and suggesting others close by, and to make Italy's tourism more and more a cultured, sustainable, and intelligent tourism," Franceschini said in a statement concurrent to the program's launch.

While in theory this is an exciting development, so far, reviews have been lackluster. La Repubblica refers to the network's performance so far as il flop of the government's free Wi-Fi, which, if you don't speak Italian, means the Wi-Fi network stinks. The newspaper offered a scathing review overall, saying the network is no replacement for 4G service, and only works when inside the palaces and locations that house the physical routers.

In response, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development has said that this is just the beginning for the project, and that it will improve in time. It certainly wouldn't be the first time a government initiative failed to take hold in Italy—reference the end of the Roman Republic—but with any luck, this one will just results in delayed photo uploads, and not in any wars.